Hartmut Dorgerloh Put Forward as New General Director of the Humboldt Forum

Press release

Berlin, 21 March 2018

Following the recommendation of the Steering Committee, Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters will nominate Professor Hartmut Dorgerloh to become the new general director of the Humboldt Forum. The Foundation Council of the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss will take a decision on the proposed appointment at its next meeting in April.

The members of the Steering Committee, Neil MacGregor, Hermann Parzinger and Horst Bredekamp, commented on Grütters’ nomination thus: “As general director of the Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG), Hartmut Dorgerloh has many years’ experience in successfully leading a highly complex institution in a collegial atmosphere while giving it a dynamic impetus. Not only is he well connected and highly respected internationally, he has also proven that he is capable of making complex historical topics accessible to a broad public in exhibitions and events. As general director of the SPSG and as an honorary professor of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Hartmut Dorgerloh stands for the Humboldtian tradition of forging a connection between scholarly research and the requirements of a modern, visitor-oriented cultural institution. For these reasons it is with great conviction that we have proposed to the minister of state for culture that Hartmut Dorgerloh should become general director of the Humboldt Forum.”

Johannes Wien, chair and spokesman for the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, declared: “I thoroughly welcome the fact that the members of the Steering Committee, Neil MacGregor, Hermann Parzinger and Horst Bredekamp, have made a recommendation to Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters that the new general director of the Humboldt Forum should be the general director of the Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten, Professor Hartmut Dorgerloh. The Forum is going to be a wonderful new venue for culture in the heart of the German capital, and his appointment will give its management structure an internationally recognized cultural manager with excellent professional credentials. He has impressively demonstrated his leadership qualities in the complex structure of the SPSG, staging major pioneering exhibitions which are geared towards the public in an exemplary manner and restoring numerous historical buildings in Berlin and Brandenburg in ambitious projects that have been completed on time and within budget. The Executive Board of the Stiftung Humboldt Forum looks forward to working together successfully in an atmosphere of trust following the decision of the Foundation Council.”

Since 2016, the Steering Committee has both laid down more stringent criteria for the direction which the Humboldt Forum should take in terms of content and created a basis for its governance structure. Now that the process of setting-up Germany’s largest cultural institution has been successfully concluded, the opening at the end of 2019 and the subsequent running of the Humboldt Forum can be planned and implemented within these structures. Hartmut Dorgerloh’s many years of experience as a cultural manager make him a highly suitable candidate to continue developing the Humboldt Forum as an international platform for a dialogue about global cultural ideas.

When the Humboldt Forum opens its doors in late 2019 it will mark the establishment of a whole new cultural quarter in the very heart of Berlin. The participating actors are the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK) with the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kulturprojekte Berlin with Stadtmuseum Berlin, and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, with the Humboldt Forum Kultur GmbH taking on a leading role for the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss. Even before its opening, the Humboldt Forum has already developed a highly visible presence throughout Berlin with its diverse programme of exhibitions, discussions, performances, workshops, films and artistic interventions.